ELGON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTRE ''Changing Lives for a Sound Future''

Elgon Youth Development Centre is a Community based organization located in Mbale District, Eastern Uganda, the project started in 2009 as a result of the appalling poverty situation in the community that had led to a rise in crime rates, street children, early pregnancies and early marriages leave alone dropping out of school by many children and youth.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sunday, September 9, 2012

We welcome Volunteers from all corners of the world to help in changing lives of our beneficiaries. We have accommodation which is in a secure environment for our volunteers self contained house $5 per day and it can hold more than 8 people . In the house all volunteers become family and work together like cooking ,cleaning and shopping.

We have wonderful places that you will enjoy seeing and people while helping at the centre so come on. You will have someone to help you move around if you want, like mountain climbing etc

Music makes
lives of vulnerable children meaningful hence reform for a sound future.

When Henery
was 10, his father passed away, leaving his family in poverty. Shortly after,
Henery ran away from home, hoping to find a better life on the streets.
Instead, he fell into a life of drug abuse and violence, begging to survive at
bus stops in Uganda. Life was not easy has I thought it would be he says. He always walked around in town looking for
scrap metals which he would sale to scrap dealers and got a few coins to buy
food for himself!

He adds;
when one needed a spot to sleep on verandas of shops and ‘’protection’’ while
on the street, you had to obey what the big boys asked of you to do. He was
sodomized a long with the other boys of his age, beaten, and this went on and
on and on until he joined Elgon Youth Development Centre. Because
he decided to come to the centre and to become a band member Henery can play
today before an audience, can show his talent, confidence, and can respect
himself as a worthy citizen. The music and song encapsulate the well-being of
children, proclaim powerful messages, reach families and address the violence
that children meet on the street or in their homes. With support from Friends, the children at the centre
are offered chance to play, encouraged to attend school and are given help in
planning their future.

With support
from Sponsors, Elgon Youth Development Centre aims to empower vulnerable children, give them sense of
worth, increase their ability to manage difficult emotions and elicit positive
social behavior. By using music, they can a quire a sense of security and
positive self-image that prevents them from falling into temptations.

The role of
a musical note, a musical sound in life of any person can be a boon to social
health besides psychological and physical too. If we think for a moment about
the sort of feeling or value music educates us unconsciously then it tells our
heart that there is birth of life and positivism in eliminating sadness,
negativity and imbibing an aesthetical, meditative value in anyone. So music
plays a huge role in transforming children’s lives and increasing on their
chances of being successful in society and life. Appreciation of different
cultures, communication and self-expression, increases self-confidence.

The impact
of this activity has been that many street-children have been re-united with
their families and taken back to school. Some youths have been able to get jobs
through the skills acquired through EYDC and therefore helped to address
poverty among their families and their community at large.